1001 Beers

Beer No: 83
Page No: 841
Category: Dark

World Cup Day 5 (yeah, kind of screwed up my numbering in the last two posts).  Today I was very surprised by the North Koreans.  They played Brazil (where my beer of the day hails from) to a 0-0 halftime tie, but then Brazil struck twice and you would think South Korea would just try and keep it to just 2-0, but no, they go and score a goal late and end the game at 2-1.  A pretty respectable outing for a North Korea team that most people really don't know anything about.  As for the other two games, pretty boring.  Portugal and the Ivory Coast battled to a 0-0 tie, and just when you think that Slovakia would come out with a 1-0 win, New Zealand scores at the last minute of injury time.  So I guess that was interesting, but still, a boring game up until then.  I'm really hoping this second "round" of games will be better as teams realize they need points to survive and make it to the knock-out round.

As for the beer, a long time ago, back when I first started my beer drinking, Xingu was one of my favorites.  Fast-forward 7 years later and it has lost its appeal.  Xingu is much more watered-down than I remember it and it really lacks any real flavor.  It's got some subtle malts in there, but really, it's a black lager that is made for the masses.  So, this time around, I've got to pass.  It's still nice and drinkable if you're looking for a session beer that really won't interfere with any other flavors you've got going on at a meal, but other than that, I don't really see any reason to go search out Xingu any more.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Xingu by FEMSA Cerveja Brasil

Aroma: 5/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 5/10
Palate: 2/5
Overall: 12/20

Rating: 2.8 / 5.0

Had from 12 oz. bottle from Hi Time Wine on June 15, 2010. Pours a dark brown/black with slight tan head. Aroma of toffee and malts. Taste is very watered-down and weak. A sweet flavor with nice malt flavors and seemingly no hops. Creamy, slight carbonation. Used to be one of my favorite black beers back in the day. These days, I know that there are much more flavorful black beers out there and this lager just doesn’t cut the mustard any more.

Had from bottle at Stuffed Sandwich on July 25th, 2003 - Day 25 of Blake’s Beer Month™
Only my second Scharzbier, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, the first one I had was a bit thin with no real substance - the Xingu raised my appreciation for this beer type. The aroma is faint, but more noticeable than the Kostriker with a slight waft of sweetness coming off the beer. It pours with a dark black appearance and a good sized brown head. The flavor of this Schwarzbier was much "fuller" than the Kostriker - a bit more carbonation than I expected, it could lose a bit here and be a bit better. This beer dances on the palate with carbonation and a smooth, easy drinkability. An interesting beer, and one I’d drink again - a nice change of pace in the beer-drinking world. Now - I just need to find some of the higher rated Schwarzbiers.

Original rating: 6/4/7/4/15 3.6